The Japanese government is now paying to help people find boyfriends

For realz.

Japan, the country said to be giving up sex and that has the fastest ageing population in the world, is now of the belief that organised matchmaking events will help young people find a partner – and is even paying for the Cilla Black-esque fun.

The country's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has allocated an extra 3 billion yen (£17.7 million) towards birth rate- boosting projects and is allowing local authorities to apply for grants of up to 40 million yen (£237,000) to help the shrinking population.

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Single parties known as 'machikon' have been increasing in popularity, attracting hundreds of men and women. In a nutshell, they're an attempt to boost marriage and ultimately, sex.

In 2013 alone, a record 244,000 people died in Japan (where the sales of nappies for pensioners are said to outweigh the sales of nappies for babies, because there are so few).

This might not sound too extreme, but when you couple it with a birth rate that has halved in the past 60 years, you have a pretty serious economic problem. So serious in fact that the entire population could drop by a third in just 50 years.

So now the Japanese government is asking for 'more babies please!', and reckons that by playing cupid they'll encourage young people to settle down and lose their single status.

Unfortunately, it may not be so easy. A 2013 survey by the Japanese Family Planning Association revealed that 45% of women aged 16-24 simply weren't interested in or actually despised sex. What's even more surprising is that more than a quarter of men felt the same way.

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